Risk Factors for Deaths due to Respiratory Infections among Brazilian Infants

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Abstract
Victora C G (Departmento de Medicina Social, Universidade Federal de Pelotas, CP 464, 96001 Pelotas, RS, Brazil), Smith P G, Barros F C, Vaughan J P and Fuchs S C. Risk factors for deaths due to respiratory infections among Brezilian infants. International Journal of Epidemiology 1989, 18: 918–925. In a population based case-control study, 127 Brazilian infants who died due to a respiratory infection were compared with 254 neighbourhood controls. The main risk factors associated with mortality were low socioeconomic status (including low levels of parental education) and—after adjustment for socioeconomic status—lack of breastfeeding, lack of supplementation with non-milk foods, crowding, the number of under-fives in the family, lack of a flush toilet, low birthweight, low weight-for-age and having a young mother. In a multivariate analysis, the variables found to be most closely associated with mortality were breastfeeding, education of the father, the number of under-fives, family income and birthweight. Having a low weight-for-age was also strongly associated with mortality but the retrospective nature of the study makes this finding difficult to interpret.